Artist Bio

Born in 1968 in Pretoria, South Africa Lives and works in Cape Town, South Africa.

EDUCATION

1990 - Bachelor of Fine Art, University of Pretoria

1995 Master of Fine Art, University of Pretoria

RESIDENCIES

2014 - KDV Residency, Dachau, Germany

2010 - Nirox Foundation, Gauteng, South Africa SOLO

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2024 - Index On The Periphery (with MJ Lourens), 131 A Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

2021 - Works On Paper And Cardboard, 131 A Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

2019 - Saronsburg wine estate gallery, Tulbagh

2018 - Mid-career retrospective 1995 -2018 solo exhibition at the Pretoria Art Museum

2014 - Poperty, Faith & Beauty and Other Recent Paintings, SMAC Gallery, Stellenbosch, South Africa. 

2012 - Youth Day, SMAC Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa.

2010 - Nirox Project Space, Arts on Main, Johannesburg, South Africa.

2009 - Anton Karstel: Paintings and Installations 1989-2009, SMAC Gallery, Stellenbosch, South Africa. 

2008 - Kerkraad NG Gemeente, Lyttelton-Oos, Joao Ferreira Fine Art, Cape Town, South Africa.

2004 - 108314N, Pretoria Art Museum, Pretoria, South Africa. Wild Thing, Franchise, Johannesburg, South Africa.

2003 - Trail-blaze, Association of Visual Art, Cape Town, South Africa.

2001 - Extract, Joao Ferreira Fine Art, Cape Town, South Africa.

1998 - Pol-aesthetic, Civic Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa. Wonderful South Africa, Millennium Gallery, Pretoria, South Africa.

1997 - Too Close for Comfort, The Rembrandt Van Rijn Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa.

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2024 - Xmas In July, winter group exhibition, 131 A Gallery, Cape Town

2022 - Winter Trio Show, 131 A Gallery, Cape Town

2020 - Ocular, 131 A Gallery, Cape Town

131 A Gallery February group show featuring Jo O’ Connor, Anton Karstel, Mary Visser & Olivie Keck

2019 - 131 A Gallery group show featuring MJ Lourens, Anton Karstel, Daniel Levi and JP Meyer

2015 - (In) The Nature of Things, Hermanus FynArts Festival, Old Synagogue Building, Hermanus, South Africa. 

Trek: Following Journeys, SMAC Gallery, Stellenbosch, South Africa. SMAC Booth, Cape Town Art Fair, The Marquee, V&A Waterfront, Cape Town, South Africa. 

2014 - SMAC Booth, Miart 2014, Fieramilanocity, Milan, Italy. 

SMAC Booth, Cape Town Art Fair, The Pavilion, V&A Waterfront, Cape Town, South Africa.

Paperwork: An Exhibition of Contemporary South African Works on Paper, Stellenbosch, South Africa.

2013 - Xmas Show, SMAC Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa. 

SMAC Booth, Joburg Art Fair, Sandton Convention Centre, Johannesburg, South Africa. 

Autumn Group Show, SMAC Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa.

2012 - PAINT I: Contemporary South African Painting 2002 - 2012, SMAC Gallery, Cape Town,

South Africa. Our Fathers, Association For Visual Arts, Cape Town, South Africa. 

Collection 17, SMAC Gallery, Aardklop National Festival, Potchefstroom, South Africa. 

SMAC Booth, Joburg Art Fair, Sandton Convention Centre, Johannesburg, South Africa.

Collection 16, SMAC Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa. 

2011 - Horse, Multiple Views of a Singular Beast, curated by Ricky Burnett. 

CIRCA Gallery Jellicoa, Johannesburg, South Africa. 

SMAC Booth, Joburg Art Fair, Sandton Convention Centre, Johannesburg, South Africa.

Collection 15, SMAC Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa. 

Collection 14, SMAC Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa. STELLENBOSCH   

TERPENTYN, Suidoosterfees, ARTSCAPE, Cape Town, South Africa. 

Collection 13, SMAC Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa. 

20Stellenbosch, 2 Decades of South African Sculpture, Stellenbosch, South Africa. 

My Selection, ArtSpace, Johannesburg, South Africa.

2010 - Own Goal, Association for Visual Arts Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa. 

Hearts and Minds, curated by Thomas Dry Barry, Hall Street Gallery, Savannah, USA. 

Division: Aspects of South African Art 1948-2010, SMAC Gallery, Stellenbosch, South Africa.

TWENTY: South African Sculpture of the Past Two Decades, Nirox Sculpture Park, Gauteng, South Africa. 

SMAC Booth, Joburg Art Fair, Sandton Convention Centre, Johannesburg, South Africa. 

Paralleli, official exhibition of the 2nd Sabbionetta Biennale, Palazzo Ducale, Sabbionetta, Italy. 

2009 - Strengths and Convictions: The Life and Times of South Africa’s Nobel Peace Prize Laureates, Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa. 

SMAC Booth, Joburg Art Fair, Sandton Convention Centre, Johannesburg, South Africa.

2007 -  New Works, New Acquisitions, Joao Ferreira Fine Art, Cape Town, South Africa.

2003 - Three Exhibitions: Anton Karstel, JP Meyer, Stefan Carstens, Association for Visual Arts Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa.

2002 - Once were Painters, (KKNK), Oudtshoorn, South Africa.

1997 - Purple and Green, Pretoria Art Museum, South Africa. Graft (Second Johannesburg Biennale), National Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa.

1996 - The Way West, Newtown Galleries, Johannesburg, South Africa. 

Earth and Everything, Arnolfini Gallery, Bristol, UK.

1995 - Laager, Africus Biennale (fringe), Newtown, Johannesburg, South Africa. 

Brown and Green, Pretoria Art Museum, South Africa. 

Springtime in Chile, Museo de Arte Contemporaneo, Santiago, Chile. 

1993 1992 - IGI Life Vita Art Now, Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa. 

Real Art, ICA, Johannesburg, South Africa.

PUBLICATIONS

2012 Van Bosch, C. ‘Ou SA Vlag Word Veelvlakkige Skilderprojek | Anton Karstel se nuwe tenoonstelling’, Die Burger, 9 July 2012

2011 Lamprecht, A. ‘City Slicker [Review of Anton Karstel Exhibition]’, Mail & Guardian, 23 March

2011 2010 Simbao, R. ‘Anton Karstel Pumpkin Hut’, TWENTY TIMES, Oct 2011

2009 ‘Anton Karstel’, Artist Monograph, SMAC Art Gallery, Stellenbosch

2001 Edmunds, P. ‘Extract by Anton Karstel at João Ferreira’, ARTHROB. [Online]Available: http://www.artthrob.co.za/01mar/reviews.html

1997 Geers, K. ‘Contemporary South Africa Art, The Gencor Collection’, Jonathan Ball Publishers, Johannesburg

COLLECTIONS

Development Bank of Southern Africa 

Gencor Collection

Iziko South African National Gallery

Pretoria Art Museum,

Pretoria Technicon

Tshwane University of Technology 

Sasol

University of Pretoria

UNISA

Vodacom

“Anton Karstel is a formidable painter, and one who operates at a contemporary cutting edge. He mesmerizes viewers with an ability to create imagery that slips in and out of fixed visual comprehension and hard-and-fast narration, all the while honouring the solidness and uniqueness of the age-old medium”. –Melvyn Minaar, Cape Times 2008

“In simultaneously fixating upon and relinquishing the promise of photographic realism, Karstel becomes the restless mapmaker determined to entice the viewer, not by the detail of topographical place, but rather by the promise of a series of spatial absences. For one, the representational act embodies a ferocious gutting that disarms the vehicle of its dimensional presence and violently relegates it to the increasingly visible past.” - Rory Bester on Wild Thing, Art South Africa 2004.